Buildings of Sutter's Fort behind high walls; train of pack mules, horses, and people crossing small bridge over river in foreground. Original caption: View of Sutter's Fort, near Sacramento City, California. reference Date and source needs checking.
Photo: Clipping from: Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion. Printed (on… / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Audio walking tour

Sacramento Audio Walking Tour

River City Resonance: Where Gold, Government, and Culture Converge

Stops
31
Core walk
29 of 31 stops within 1.5 mi of the center
Farthest stop
1.5 mi from the center
Start
California State Capitol Museum
31 stops GPS-triggered audio No app download Free to start

Thirty-one stops walk Sacramento from the California State Capitol to Sutter's Fort. The Capitol Museum opens the route; the statue of Thomas Starr King on the Capitol grounds, the California State Library, the California Museum, the Second Empire Governor's Mansion, and the Leland Stanford Mansion carry the civic blocks. The Crocker Art Museum (the oldest in the Western United States), the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral follow. Cesar E. Chavez Plaza on Sutter's 1849 Old City Plaza, the Sacramento City Library, and Capitol Mall lead to the Tower Bridge and I Street Bridge across the Sacramento River. Old Sacramento State Historic Park holds the Pony Express Terminal, California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento History Museum, the Big Four Building, What Cheer House, Orleans Hotel, Delta King sternwheeler, and the Sacramento Southern Railroad. Sutter's Fort (John Sutter's New Helvetia), the Historic City Cemetery, Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Mesick, J. Neely Johnson, Cranston-Geary, and Winters Houses close the walk.

Highlights

  • Buildings of Sutter's Fort behind high walls; train of pack mules, horses, and people crossing small bridge over river in foreground. Original caption: View of Sutter's Fort, near Sacramento City, California. reference Date and source needs checking.
    Sutter's Fort

    John Sutter made this adobe stronghold, Sutter's Fort, the heart of his New Helvetia, literally "New Switzerland", project. He secured a 50,000-acre land grant from the Mexican governor and in 1839 founded the agricultural and trade colony; construction of the fort proper began in 1841.

  • Exterior - Governor's Mansion State Historic Park, 1526 H Street, Sacramento, California, USA. The former governor's mansion, built in 1877 for Albert and Clemenza Gallatin. Photography was permitted without restriction.
    Governor's Mansion State Historic Park

    Home to 14 governors, the California Governor's Mansion in Sacramento rises in front of you. This is a thirty-room, three-story Second Empire-Italianate Victorian mansion built in 1877.

  • California State Railroad Museum

    Inside Old Sacramento State Historic Park, the California State Railroad Museum rises in front of you. Part of the California State Parks system, this museum interprets the role of railroads in the Western U.S., and it does so with an astonishing collection.

  • Stanford Mansion, official reception center of the Californian Government.
    Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park

    Feel the weight of this grand house, built in 1856 and now the official reception center for the Government of California. Feel the weight of its stories: it was originally owned and built by Sacramento merchant Shelton C. Fogus, and the mansion’s Renaissance Revival transformation is attributed to Seth Babson, who went on to design the E.B. Crocker residence and art gallery now part of the Crocker Art Museum.

  • View from the east side of the Sacramento River as it flows through the city of Sacramento in the US State of California
    Tower Bridge

    Picture this vertical lift bridge spanning the Sacramento River, linking Yolo County to the west with the capital city to the east. Often known as the M Street Bridge, this elegant span once carried U.S. Route 40, until that highway was truncated to east of Salt Lake City, and carried US Route 99W down the western portion of the Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Red Bluff.

All 31 stops

How it works

1

Open on your phone

No download. Works in Safari or Chrome.

2

Start walking

Head toward any historic stop. No fixed route.

3

Audio plays itself

Walk within range of a stop and the story begins.

Open the Sacramento tour →

Three stops free. No account needed.

Gear for walking Sacramento

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